Obama's Broken Pledge to Cut the Deficit in Half

Press Release

Congressman James Lankford (R-OK) marked the third anniversary of President Obama's broken pledge to make serious deficit reductions by calling on the President to put aside election year politics and get serious about our debt crisis.

Just a month after taking office, President Obama led a Fiscal Responsibility Summit at the White House on February 23, 2009, where he said, "That's why today, I am pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office." The deficit in 2009 was just under $1.5 trillion, and the President's budget released that year projected that the deficit in 2012 would be under $600 billion. Instead, the deficit for 2012 will be $1.33 trillion, and the budget released by the President last week never balances at any time in the future.

"Three years ago today, President Obama pledged to cut our deficit in half and take control of our fiscal nightmare," said Congressman Lankford. "Instead, government spending continues unchecked, and we have a trillion dollar deficit for the fourth straight year. The President did not just make that pledge to Republicans and Democrats serving in Congress, he made that pledge to the American people and the generations that will follow us. Three years ago, spending dramatically increased, and now is the time to bring spending back into line.

"Budget projections will never get the job done; they just push the problems to the next year, the next Congress and the next administration," continued Congressman Lankford. "If we are going to get serious about cutting the deficit, we must get to work now. Immediately cutting spending, reforming entitlements and developing solutions is the only way to ensure the tough decisions are made and then implemented. We have to get to work right now, rather than focusing on how we can make it easier for ourselves while only making it tougher for our children in the process."

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